


Breakfast Down Under

by Iridium (IridiumFlames)



Category: Free!
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Haru and Makoto show up for like .2 seconds, M/M, not too much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:32:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4835486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IridiumFlames/pseuds/Iridium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke follows Rin to Australia and lives on his couch, and they don't understand feelings well.</p>
<p>Written for Day 5 of Sourin Week, the prompt is Scissors: First time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakfast Down Under

He follows Rin, eventually. It takes him a year, and he stays in Japan for only a month before dropping off the map entirely. Why the one guy that was known for getting lost would do it on purpose is something Rin still hadn’t figured out. It’s terrifying. Rin is the one that moved continents, he’s the one moving forward at breakneck speed, but he doesn’t see his own reaction coming when he finally wrangles the truth out of Makoto and Haru. That is one shitty Skype call.

Makoto won’t look at the camera, and Haru looks calm but his eyes are worried when he tells him. “He left a couple days ago. He dropped off some furniture here and we haven’t heard from him since. His phone redirects to a disconnected message.”

Rin is reminded then, sitting in his flat with a spotty Wi-Fi signal, that a few flimsy pieces of technology are the only thing connecting him to the other side of the world. He is aware just how big the ocean is that day.

But he comes back, right to Rin’s doorstep somehow, and he’s shown no signs of leaving for about a month then. Sousuke is already enrolled at the University of Sydney, and he’s won enough of a scholarship that tuition isn’t a problem. What exactly he’s been doing was a mystery, though.

“It’s not something you need to worry about,” he says, the first night he comes back, and he avoids the question into the next day, apart from a reassurance that whatever it was, it wasn’t illegal. Sousuke won’t fucking talk about it (like always) but that can’t stop Rin. Sousuke has hidden too much from him ever since they’d found each other again. He isn’t letting it go this time.

He’s been living in a remarkably shitty flat downtown for school. Rin teases him about it when he first visits, because that way it isn’t a big deal, but when the lease ran out, he settled into Rin’s couch and one side of his bathroom. Rin hasn’t mentioned that he doesn’t really mind. The first of every month, exactly five dollars more than half of his rent appears on his kitchen table in an envelope, which Sousuke never takes back. What an asshole; Rin has never asked for payment.

This particular day is a weekend. Rin had left first that morning to go running, and by the time Sousuke gets back, he’s already started breakfast for both of them.

“What’re you making?” Rin looks up to Sousuke peering into the kitchen on his way inside.

“Omelette and miso.” Rin flips the first one onto a waiting plate, and pours the second one onto the pan to sizzle so he can dig in the fridge for a drink.

Sousuke leans in to look, delicately propping his chin on Rin’s shoulder. His exhale settles over his skin, so soft it’d be unnoticeable if it weren’t Sousuke. “Get me a coke.”

Rin pokes his forehead. “You can’t have coke with breakfast, what the hell.”

Sousuke moves to the stove to flip the second omelette. “Is that a no?” he asks, barely hiding a smirk.

Rin shoves a glass of water at him and pours a second one for himself. “You’re not getting soda right after a run. At least drink this first.” A minute later they’re both eating, quietly enjoying a good breakfast. Rin squints at Sousuke. His shoulders aren’t tense, and his eyes aren’t darting over everything in their kitchen like he’s just shy of being trapped. Perfect, he’s relaxed.

Sousuke doesn’t notice Rin’s eyes on him at first, but after a few seconds he looks up from eating. “Rin?” he questions, a curious frown barely creasing his eyebrows.

“Can I ask you something?” He’s already tried asking once but this time it’s good; this time it’s gonna work.

The frown gets a little deeper. “Yeah, what?”

Rin fiddles with his miso spoon. He licks his lips before answering. “Where’d you go, last year?”

He doesn’t have to clarify. Sousuke sighs and looks at him, jaw set. He opens his mouth, but before he can talk, Rin interrupts. “I want the actual answer, not the bullshit excuse you gave me when you got here.”

“Okay then.” So Sousuke sits back, folds his arms loosely across his chest and talks.

“I stayed with my dad’s company for a while, like I told you,” he starts, and Rin nods because he knows this part. “And I couldn’t do it. I can’t stay still. I might be better at it than you,” he stops and smiles, “but I can’t– I have to keep moving. I can’t live without a goal.” He blinks, looking at Rin without really seeing, and something older than the sea passes through his eyes. Then he shakes himself and it’s gone. “I have to keep moving. The second they let me out of therapy I left.”

“I didn’t leave Japan,” he clarifies, catching the confused look on Rin’s face. “I took a bunch of odd jobs, you know– fast food, temp work, I did night restocking for convenience stores a couple times. Once I had enough money I came here as fast as I could. ‘I’m an international transfer student who took a year off for travel.’” Sousuke says the last sentence in English, accented but clear, with more enthusiasm than looks natural on him. “Apparently my grades from Samezuka were enough to get me an application to university, and the entrance exam is only a matter of studying. I’ve actually been in Australia almost a year. I’ve been working downtown.”

That explains the shitty apartment. But– “A year? Why didn’t you tell me? You were right here, this whole time– what the fuck, I would’ve helped you, I could’ve asked someone on the team to get you a job!” Rin’s suddenly irritated beyond belief, ready to rant at Sousuke for all the things he could’ve done.

“I didn’t want your help.” He shuts him down so calmly, like Rin’s a child who can’t grasp an idea.

“You didn’t want to actually make it easy on yourself for once?!” he spits, because that just pisses him off even more.

Sousuke’s face shifts. “I didn’t want to– to need it, it’s not about making things easier,” but Rin interrupts again, standing up and striding around the table because now he’s mad.

“What the hell does that mean? If you need help, you tell people! Do you know how worried we all were?” He jabs a hand into Sousuke’s chest for emphasis and isn’t surprised when he stands up and pushes back.

“That’s the point!” Sousuke snaps. “I don’t want you worrying about me! If I’d told you, you’d only get worked up over something I could handle on my own.” He steps back from Rin with a huff and looks away. Right then, they could’ve dropped it. But Sousuke keeps talking, muttering just loud enough for Rin to hear.

“It’s not like _you_ asked _me_ for help a couple years back, anyway.”

“You do not fucking bring that up,” Rin hisses, dangerously quiet. He’s doing _better_ , that’s not how he is anymore, and he can’t stop from shoving into Sousuke’s space, close enough to see his eyes narrow.

“And what if I do? You can’t yell at me for something you did too, Rin. You know what it’s like to not want help.” He’s talking through clenched teeth, daring Rin to prove him wrong, and Rin could punch him because he’s right.

He didn’t want help, sometimes, when it was the only way out. A favor between friends was different from a blow to his dignity. Rin gets it, too well.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t need it.” He steps back quietly, pushing softly at his chest one more time for good measure. At the touch of his hand, he physically sees the tension drain out of Sousuke, starting from his eyes and spilling downward, until he collapses on himself where he stands. In another instant he’s back to normal.

“I only wanted to come back when I was good enough, okay? You didn’t need to see everything that happened after I left. I’m fine now, and that’s all that’s important.” Rin snaps his head up, immediately so angry that his world’s turning watercolor.

“You don’t need to be “good enough,” you gigantic idiot! You’re already you!” He punches him, intending for it to hurt, but it turns soft halfway through and he ends up grabbing at Sousuke’s shirt.

“You’re already good enough the way you are. Just shut up,” he mumbles, spreading his hand across Sousuke’s chest. He’s still a little warm from his run, Rin thinks, and he’s touching too much, Sousuke’s going to catch on and he can’t even stop himself. But when he looks up to see if he’s crossed a line he should leave alone, Sousuke doesn’t try to stop him. His eyes are wide, bright and blue as the day he met him. He looks years younger.

“Rin?” His voice is a wobbly whisper, and Rin would laugh if he didn’t feel the same way. They’re both standing painfully still, unsure of the right way to break the silence.

Sousuke ends up moving first. “Can I– can I hug you?” He says it like it’s a luxury, and it’s so weird to hear him stutter. He always thinks before speaking.

But there’s nothing more Rin wants right now, so he nods, “Yeah!” not missing how oddly high-pitched his voice sounds. Less than a second later he’s crushed against Sousuke, his arms wrapping tight around Rin’s shoulders so hard they stagger backward. It’s not like he’d be out of place doing it now, so he brings his arms up around his waist to steady him. He starts rubbing Sousuke’s back, once they’re on center again and he needs another reason to hold him. Rin can feel fingers pressing into his back, and twists his head to look at Sousuke from an angle.

It’s shocking how vulnerable he looks. Rin can’t catch the words, but he’s looking into space, mouthing something that looks like “please.” This isn’t how friends hug each other, not for this long and this close and this isn’t even how Rin hugs people, normally.

“Are you sure about this?” he mumbles, his lips a breath away from Sousuke’s neck. He doesn’t want to be the only one here, they’re going down together if he’s right about what’s happening.

Sousuke nods against his shoulder. “I really like you, Rin.” His hands are shaking and he sounds like the next words out of Rin’s mouth could break him.

“You asshole. I liked you first.” Rin hits him, because subtlety has never been his strong trait and now he’s going to cry, he can feel it.

And of course Sousuke is a dick and won’t let him have the last word. “No you didn’t.”

“Prove it.” He’s not going down without a fight, after all.

“You’ve liked me since high school, then?” That one throws him, and Rin leans back a little to look at him properly.

“What?” Because damn, really? Was Sousuke actually the winner, did he really like him first, before Rin figured out why even a different continent seemed bigger and brighter when Sousuke was around?

Sousuke lets go of Rin’s shoulders, running his hands over the sides of Rin’s face with incredible gentleness. “You told me not to hide things from you, right? I’m being honest.”

And honestly, he tries not to cry, but Sousuke _likes_ him, and his voice is too wobbly to get out whatever he was going to say, so really it’s the only option left. Sousuke’s used to it though, thank fuck, and wraps him back into a hug. He can feel one hand running through his hair, playing with the short bit at the back of his neck until his sniffling calms down.

“I want to kiss you, but I’m scared,” Sousuke whispers. Rin kind of agrees. Standing in the kitchen like this, with Sousuke holding him and wanting to, is more than he thought he’d ever get. He doesn’t want to ruin it. And a large part of him is still on alert, because this is his friend, this is Sousuke, who wears too much blue and hates snickerdoodles, and came to visit that one time when he got sick on Christmas so Rin wouldn’t be alone. He’s spent a lot of time convincing himself not to want this.

He still wants a kiss. “Me too,” he whispers into the hollow of Sousuke’s neck, and then pauses. “What if we don’t kiss on the lips? Technically, it wouldn’t be a first kiss.”

Sousuke lets out a small laugh, sounding almost relieved. “That would work.” So he pulls back a little and holds Rin’s head steady to press a small kiss to his forehead. His lips are soft. He moves back after a moment, looking at Rin intently. “Is that good?”

“You’re too fucking tall, I can’t even reach your lips anyway,” Rin sighs but he’s smiling, he can’t help it, and leans in to kiss Sousuke’s neck– he tastes like sweat. With the tiniest bit of stretching he could pull himself up on those gorgeous shoulders, and kiss him like he’s been wanting to since Sousuke knocked on the door and asked if he could stay the night. Right now though, this is more than enough.

“So I get first in the shower, since you got the first kiss,” he says, not looking at Sousuke and praying they’re still okay.

“I made your omelette, I think I get first. Besides I’m still sweaty, I get priority,” and Rin kicks at him and laughs, because honestly nothing’s changed. This way it’s not a first. Only it is.

**Author's Note:**

> The extra $5 is so Rin can buy him soda
> 
> Anyhow I had fun with this! Very fluffy and sappy, also thank you to snurtlicious for beta reading this, it was most helpful!


End file.
